Posts tagged World War II

I’m continuing the theme of what I blogged yesterday if you read Aigul’s piece. Yesterday I had given nine primary and secondary teachers the choice of two questions to answer in writing with a time limit of only a half hour. The following three people, I thought, wrote very good answers to this question: “In what way do you think you can make a difference for the future of Kazakhstan?

Teacher #1 Our path to the future is going to be by knowing the past of our nation. Without knowing the past of our country and people of our past, we cannot draw a future picture, make a brighter tomorrow. If any person does what he is up to, there will be no problem among people, no fight.

I am a teacher, so I will do my best to teach students to get more knowledge, as much as I can. Everyone in our country has to sacrifice. Sacrifice his free time, enjoyment, etc. just to be more useful in building of our new country and a new nation. Our country has survived the Soviet Union and it’s up to us all to take part in this very process.

I am happy that I’m taking part with passing from a cradle period of our country to standing on its own feet steadily and still.

Germany has lost two world wars but could again be one of the seven big developed countries of the world. How could they achieve that? Sacrificing their legally free time. They worked on Saturdays for free. Why did they do that? Because their country was in need of that help.

My aim in teaching English besides grammar, vocabulary, etc. provide my students with strong believe in future of our country. In period of more than 70 years, our land suffered from having no opportunity to think individually, to act as they wanted. The very nation was like a nightingale with a beautiful voice, but chattering its wonderful songs not in a forest where it liked, but in a place where it was kept dependent.

My motherland has anything it wishes to be rich materially and spiritually. It is rich with everything from the list of Mendeleyev and also have people who are eager to make their country one of the best.

Our history was lost or rewritten to make us believe that we had no remarkable past at all. But nowadays everyone is aware of the history of the whole world.

As a teacher, it’s my job to make our students, a new generation, more patriotic and future confident. Our president does all in his hands for a new generation to be highly educated and serve our country. A lot of people are used to criticizing the leader, but we have to remember that we are ruled by someone like us, someone elected among one of us. Word Count: 408

Teacher #2 ” Children are our future says a proverb. We, teachers have a greater responsibility for the future of our country. Will it be wealthy and strong or poor and illiterate? It depends on the knowledge that the young generation gets at school mostly.

Currently our country is undergoing sufficient changes in educational system. The teaching process becomes open for students and their parents. Pupils are now not the objects of learning, they are equal partners.

As a teacher of English, I have an opportunity to discuss any themes my students want to during the lesson. So, I am not only a teacher, I am an advisor, trainer, and of course a friend.

The world changes, so do the youngsters. Now they need the other approach, students want to be treated as equals. Consequently, the educational system ought to fit new age demands. I have knowledge and courage to work on the improvement of the educational system in my country. Word Count: 158

Teacher #3 I was born in the Republic of Kazakhstan and I am very proud of being the citizen of this country. Before going to school my parents believed that I would succeed in my studies. This belief and support they gave me were always great motivation for my further achievements. I agree that education starts in the family. Therefore what I gained in my childhood could help me make enormous difference for the future of my family and hence it would influence the future of the whole country.

Moreover, I believe that knowledge is power. There is a constant exchange of knowledge and information between parents, teachers, professors, scientists and pupils, students and others. Regardless of what we learn today or tomorrow, knowledge is one of the strongest powers that influence the future of one’s home country.

First of all, I think I can transform my knowledge to future generations. I also believe that having finished my degree program, I could be more aware of current situation in our country. To be precise, the more you learn the more you realize the potential of your country, know its political strengths and weaknesses, and be clear about what should be done in the future. One degree is only one step in which I could be useful for my country. It is necessary to be in constant search. By gaining more knowledge I believe I can make more difference for the future of my country. Therefore everyone should think about being more educated so that he or she won’t regret about wasting time after all.

Even though I was not as close to my grandparents as I wished to be, I know that they were good people and hard workers. That is, the Soviet society demanded hard work from them at that time. They were caring parents for my future mom and dad and trustworthy neighbors in the country. My grandparents from my father’s side were from the south of Kazakhstan and the grandparents on my mother’s side were from west of Kazakhstan.

The eldest of my grandparents is my grandfather from my father’s side, his name was Islam. He was born in 1923. He became handicapped from getting injured in World War II. As a result, he was never able to work, but he was a person of strong will and kept himself very disciplined, requiring the same from people around him.

My grandfather from my mother’s side, Karen, was one year younger than my grandfather Islam. He was born in 1924 and was a very good looking man. He claimed he worked in a phosphate fertilizer factory but my mother believes that he was connected to the production of military equipment for the Soviet Union which was kept a secret.

Aimkhan is my grandmother from my father’s side. She was a magnificent person spreading harmony but unfortunately I did not have a chance to know her due to her untimely death when I was three years old. My eldest sister, who spent her initial four years of life with this grandmother, once mentioned that I look most like her (my parents’ four children look very different from each other). From the same source, I know that she had “tasty hands” for cookery. Her elegance in everything is what made her incomparable.

My mother’s mother, Zhupar, was an iron lady compared to her soft-tempered husband. Her demanding policy in quest for perfectionism had different effects on her children. This does not erase the fact that she wanted only the best for them. Even though she had her favorite grandchildren from her two sons, saying that I did not receive enough of her love would not be fair. She was very attentive and the most willing to give advice concerning any aspect of your being, like, “Spend your time wisely, since nobody is going to get your work done.”

I want to tell you about my grandmother on my father’s side. Her name is Kuldeinesh and she was born in 1918 and lived in Kaskelen settlement. The reason why I chose my grandma is that because I’m thinking that she was a great and wise woman especially for our family. When she came to our house, she was always talking about her childhood.

When she was 17 years old she met my grandfather and they got married. After two happy years which they lived together when they already had three children, the World War II started. My grandpa went to the war, and my grandma became a nurse in the hospital. She thought that exactly in such way she could contribute to our victory.

My grandfather was injured during the WWII battle and finally he returned home. But unfortunately he lived only 10 year after that. Nevertheless they had another 3 children during this period. After his death my grandma became widow but she brought up all 6 children herself and she never lost her enthusiastic and hope that everything will be ok. Later when children were still too young, at the age of 2-12, she decided that it is better to change her job. She told us that in that time it was too difficult to bring up so many children alone. She was needed to sit with little children, but at the same time she was needed to earn money in order to feed her big family. She didn’t have money for some time, and she had to borrow from all her neighbors. Then she started to in kindergarten as the teacher. This work gave her chance to look after all her children who were with her all the day. She worked as the kindergartener even after all children grew up. I’m truly believe that she was great women, who didn’t been scared with all troubles and difficulties in her live. She spent all her live to up bringing her own and other’s children, which is I’m thinking is the truly Kazakh women’s burden.

My grandfather and grandmother both are not alive anymore, and I remember my grandmother only as I was three years old. Her name was Kazyna, and she was in her 80’s when together we read books and played in the garden; moreover, my grandma taught me the Kazakh language, so when I was a little girl, I spoke Kazakh fluently, wish it was now the same. I know that my grandma was a very brave, kindhearted and honest woman. She had to bear about seven children, however, only two of them are now alive.

Grandmother Kazyna had lived in the north of the Kazakhstan, namely in Kostanai. In Kostanai winters are freezing and windy with a high snow level. The nature in the north of Kazakhstan is beautiful; there are a lot of forests and lakes, which make the atmosphere of those places unforgettable. In the summer we would collect berries and in the autumn we collected mushrooms, in winter people usually tend to play snowballs and to ski. It is wonderfully amazing at any time of the year where my mom was raised up. Nowadays, maybe few women may say that they have such a big number of children, and that is a really prominent deed for any woman in the world, and especially for my grandmother, who had lived during hard times.

My grandparents had to live during World War II, which was a horrible time to live, and my Grandfather Turgan had participated in the War, and had injured his leg when he returned from the front. Since the war worsened my grandfather’s health, his life did not last as much as the grandmother’s. In my opinion, my grandparents had strong personalities, since to live and to bring up the children during such hard times had required a lot of strength and braveness. I truly believe that my grandparents’ life experience is unique and I respect them for what they did, and that they had brought up my mother who has a great personality and is a strong woman as her parents were.

During the World War II a lot of people lost their lives in order to make us happy at the present. Huge number of young generation died in this terrible war. I want to tell you about my grandfather who became a hero of the World War II. My grandfather Zhassybayev Aben was born in 1925 in Kazakhstan, Kaskelen region, Politotdel village.

In 1943 he was sent to the Northern part of the Kazakhstani region, to serve for the national USSR army. A lot of young people were sent from the Almaty region to the northern part Petropavlovsk region. After passing three month army courses, they were allocated to serve in each part of the Soviet Union region. Grandfather’s rifle battalion was sent to the Ukraine to defeat German Nazis army. After successful resistance, they invaded into Europe via Warsaw, Sandomir, Kalish cities. All these cities were destroyed by German armies, but most of these were salvaged by the Soviet Red Army. Later my grandfather was honored for his bravery against invading enemy aggression to other countries, especially those which were located in the USSR.

In 1953 he came to Almaty city to study in a university where he passed an exam to the Kazakh National pedagogical university, in a major of Geography. During these years, education for my grandfather was a first place priority. In 1957 with great marks, he graduated. Later in 1957 he was appointed as a professor in a Kaskelen region, Zhetysu village local school. He had good authority among students, everyone respected him because of his punctuality, the way of his teaching and for being fair to everybody. In 1992 he was appointed as a director of the Zhetysu school. My father told me that he was calm, not only at school but even at home.

In a conclusion I want to say that I am very proud that I had such a wonderful Grandfather.

My name is Ainura and I have a very big family. I was brought up in countryside and we moved to town only recently. Because of that I have a lot of relatives. My mum’s and dad’s families were in close relationships with each other. My grandparents worked together, father’s mother was a teacher at a local school and taught almost all my uncles and aunts. But before moving into one village, the two families had different origins. I would like to introduce some people from my family, whose lives were quite different from others. So let’s start.

The family of my father was from the region which is called Torgay. It is in the south of Kostanay region. My great great great grandfather was a head of the village. Honestly the whole village was owned by him. It was in the 19th century. He had one wife, which was from very rich and influential klan, but they didn’t have any children. After her death he decided to marry again and chose the girl from the same klan from which was his first wife. At that time he was a 60-year old man. Then 17-year old new wife gave birth to their son. That was my great grandfather. After a few years my great great great grandfather died and his second wife was married with his brother but some said that his brother actually was his servant. Today it has not a lot of meanings.

After that they had a lot of children probably, 5 or 6 because one died until the age of 5. All that I heard was from my great grandmother who lived with us for several years. She was born in 1916, it is not justified because she didn’t know exactly even a date when she was born. She also couldn’t write and read. She lived a very long life and died in 2008 and she told us a lot of stories about her life. For example, during World War II women of her village including my granny built a dike alone or she told how they fished and then exchanged their catch of fish for food. Almost all kinds of food they made on their own. When she lived with us, she used to eat a lot and mostly butter. And honestly she never had any serious diseases.

Mother’s family has quite a different history. Her father was from an ordinary Kazakh family and her mother was from Russia but she is Kazakh. In her family were nine children and all of them were raised up by their mother alone, because her husband died when she was pregnant with the last child. All children, including my granny, have different stories. That family is the most international, there are Kazakhs, Russians, Jews, Ukrainians and others. All others live in Russia, excluding my granny. She is in Kazakhstan and the youngest one lives in Kyrgyzstan. Mother’s grandfather was a soldier in 1941-1945. He participated in the battle for Kaliningrad and achieved Poland. He returned home and went to the parade in Moscow in 1973.

So that is my family. Actually all that is a history of my family and if I consider myself as a part of my family I can say that is a history of me.

Grandparents are important and influential persons in all people’s lives. They are those people who take care of you and love you. They are special persons who can give you wise advice. As a child I was unbelievably close to one of my grandparents. Her name was Nadezhda and she was born in 1924 in Almaty. Her parents died early, so at the age of eighteen she started to work a lot to earn enough money for her three smaller sisters and two brothers. The only job that she could find for her first time was a ticket seller in the nearest theater.

It was hard times because World War Two drained all the human and food resources from USSR. Nevertheless, neighbors and just, good people helped my grandmother to raise her sisters and brothers. My grandmother wanted to get a better job, but she didn’t have any specialization. That is why she spent all her free time studying and then she was accepted in college. Later she graduated as an accountant. Time passed and life got easier, grandma succeeded in work and married only when all of her sisters and brothers finished their education and were able to care about themselves.

My grandma has always been a gentle and kind person. She taught me respect for others, and showed me with her experience that love and feelings are important things in my life and that I don’t have to pay attention to material things or what people look like externally. Even though grandma was old, she always had a strong desire to enjoy life. Every morning when it was very early, she liked to go to the supermarket. She said that going shopping early in the morning was better because she could find everything fresh such as vegetables and fruits. I think she was right about that. After my grandmother bought everything, she always liked to cook for the whole family. On the weekends she used to go to countryside where she had small house. I remember myself helping grandma to plant trees near that house.

Furthermore, my grandmother was always in tune to the new things in the world. For example, she always cared about fashion, economics or important issues in the world. Grandmother’s goal was to see our family full of happiness and to see us growing up healthy and happy because she wanted me and my family to have a successful future. My grandmother died three years ago, but only now I realize how special she was and how much love she had given to me.